Jenga With Marc E. Bassy: 25 Things You Should Know
A round of Jenga with your next favorite artist, Marc E. Bassy
Marc E. Bassy is always in the funk of life. While paper-chasing the American dream or soundtracking summer BBQs, the Los Angeles-bred triple threat (he sings, raps and has scribed songs for Chris Brown, Sean Kingston and Pia Mia) is lowkey scribing his way to success by slapping familiar stories on wax. Just listen to "XX" or "Drunk and I'm Drunk." Everyone who's ever suffered a hangover of emo or had one too many all find a piece of home in Bassy's low and high notes.
VIBE recently challenged the modern-day wordsmith to a round of Jenga over a grande cup of iced coffee and rounded up the 25 most important things to know about your next favorite artist.
SEE ALSO: Premiere: Marc E. Bassy ‘East Hollywood’ EP
1. He's been catfished.
"I’ve been catfished in person. It was a transvestite that I thought was a woman, but it was a man and I found after 30 minutes of hanging out. [VIBE: How did you find out?] I can’t disclose that."
2. His favorite song to perform is an unreleased track that samples Radiohead.
"It’s a song that has never come out yet called “Groovy People.” And I just recently started performing it live. It will be on my next project, but I play it a lot. It’s a Radio Head sample, and I’m into groovy '60s and '70s culture, free love and the experimental drug use, so that’s why it's called "Groovy People." My mom is a groovy person too, that’s kind if why I thought about it."
3. One of his fans apparently kept a very personal item of his.
"One time a fan told me that they had a piece of my hair [from when I used to be in a band]."
SEE ALSO: Jenga With Kehlani: 25 Things You Should Know
4. You may know his ex.
"I have an ex-girlfriend who is dating a major celebrity. We’re still going back and forth. You could find out about her, she’s great. I miss her sometimes. Most of the time, I don’t. I’m kind of flattered [she's dating this celeb]. It’s kind of cool but then also like, ‘F**k forever.' ... It's kind of a weird feeling but it’s very motivating."
5. His East Hollywood EP was sorta inspired by that breakup.
"I’m not one of those people that every song [of mine] is about a relationship or heartbreak-type sh*t. But when I go through things, I definitely write about them, and that’s something major that happened to me. That dictated where I lived so yeah, East Hollywood is definitely partially inspired by that. It’s inspired of what came after that breakup and breaking up with my band. I was in New York for a while and then went back to L.A. So East Hollywood is the whole past year of my life and everything that came with it."
6. Marc didn't plan on being an artist.
"Honestly, my whole music career, me being an artist hasn’t really been a plan. I kind of almost forfeited being an artist and switched over to the writing side but people kept hearing my voice on demos and kept being interested in my voice, so I kind of just fell back into it and started putting songs up on SoundCloud. I don’t want to say it was an accident, but it was more of me not pushing so hard, just going where I was led."
7. He penned Sean Kingston and Chris Brown's "Beat It" and is churning out tracks for Pia Mia.
"I’ve been writing songs forever. I went from being [signed to] a band, and [performing] on tour to focusing on songwriting. That was like a year-and-a-half ago. I just did small little parts. I did this Sean Kingston and Chris Brown’s song called “Beat It” that was kind of popping and I started working with this girl, Pia Mia. That’s really me and my roommate Nic Nac—she came to us and we developed her whole sound. Now, she’s just finally getting where she deserves to be. But throughout that process, that’s kind of what led me to really getting out there in the industry and people really hearing my voice, just 'cause I was writing all her songs—we did like 40 songs together. Now, she is branching out and collaborating with lots of people, which is really cool."
8. His go-to pick-up line is having no pick-up line.
"I suck at pick-up lines. [Laughs] I have no pick-up lines. My pick-up lines are getting my roommate to finesse his girlfriend to play my music in the background for girls. My pick-up line would honestly not be very good—I probably will get awkward. But once I get past the initially awkward stage, I feel like I could be smooth, versus the first contact.
9. His baby-making playlist doesn't include Drake, but maybe himself.
"I’ve never been the type to serenade. That embarrasses the sh*t out of me. That’s not my thing, but if people are hearing my music, that’s different. I’ll feel like a sucker if I do that. I have [made love to my own music], but I feel corny about that too. And I can't have sex to Drake. I think Drake is like the best artist on earth, but for some reason, when his music is on... it’s weird. It just happened to me recently. But yeah, [having sex] to my own song? Maybe a few times."
10. He likes his coffee simple.
"[I like my coffee] with one pack of sugar and Half & Half."
11. He usually creates music under the influence.
"I’m not like an alcoholic or nothing like that, but I definitely feel weird being in the studio completely sober. I’ve written sober for sure. But I write all day, like when I wake up, I get ideas then they start to come together. By the time I’m putting it all together, I need the lubrication to get it really going."
12. Getting signed at 20 came with its ups and downs.
"The best part and the worst part are the same thing. I didn’t know what was going on, and so everything was just exciting, new, fresh and fun, and like a dream come true. At the same time, I had no control over it and I didn’t really know what I wanted. It was like going on a crazy roller coaster ride, where I didn’t realize where the end was. I didn’t know how it was going to go and I didn’t put in my all, artistically. It was really fun. I was with my best friends at the time. But on the flip side, I was so inexperienced that I couldn’t make the most out of it."
13. His favorite meal is brunch.
"I like this place called Salt’s Cure. They make the most smacking brunch. [I order the] All-Star. They have the most incredible pancakes, and amazing, thick, real bacon. They also have the best homemade bread.
14. Growing up, Marc constantly bumped Tupac's R U Still Down?.
"I remember being little when Tupac got killed. I was really young, like eight or something and I didn’t really care about music before that. I remember just watching TV and being like, ‘Mom, what happened? That’s Tupac.’ Tupac went to my high school. The Bay Area claims Tupac, so I just remember her being like, ‘This is really stupid. He got shot for no reason.’ I remember watching the candlelight vigils for [Tupac] on TV and seeing how much people cared about what he was. I kind of had my fair share of early childhood trauma, and I just remember when crazy sh*t was happening to me and I was listening to him, I would really lock myself in the room and listen for hours and hours. He was the most expressive rapper of all time. The most emotional but still hard. He had a lot of songs about being alone on the album. There is a song called “F**k All Y'all” and “Nothin But Love," and all these songs are kind of me against the world-type vibe. It really resonated with me when I was a kid ... I was just really touched by ['Pac's music] and thought it was cool that you could be such an open person but also be a credible street person at the same time."
15. Three songs he wishes he scribed:
"I wish I wrote [Miguel's] “Adorn” 'cause it’s the best song. I wish I wrote [Frank Ocean's] “Swim Good.” God damn, that song is good. A lot of Frank ocean songs are pretty amazing to me. I also wish I wrote “Roar” by Katy Perry. That song goes, too. [I would] be caking right now."
16. Kanye West is a believer.
"Kanye West played my song, “American Dream,” like four times in a row. I didn’t meet him though, but my manager is friends with [Kanye's people]. He was like, ‘Kanye kept playing your song back yesterday.”
17. He doesn't have an obsession with technology.
"I can live without any app. I could live without my phone. I don’t have a computer. I’m on Twitter and Instagram a lot. Yeah, I need my Twitter and Instagram, but truthfully if I didn’t have that, I’d be a happier person."
18. His relationship status:
"Single—I’m very single. I’ve never been so single in my entire life. Since me and my whole crew started living this life of touring around, all the ladies are my friends also. It’s a lot of fun but I had a girlfriend for seven years and then [another for] four years. I was kind of always used to that. I traded in the girlfriends for five guy roommates."
19. His biggest fear:
"I’m deathly afraid of mountain lions. I read an article when I was young, and [mountain lions reportedly] put their arms around your shoulders and dig you up with their feet. They are in the Bay area and always bite someone’s limb off. Every year, it happens a few time. On my high school field trip, [my then-teacher] Ms. Sharp knew that I was scared of them and she posted the article that had freaked me out. She comes down running, sprinting down the hill and saying, 'Mountain lions.' I was by myself and tried sprinting down the hill then I realized everybody was laughing at me."
20. His biggest fear (on a deeper level):
"Dying is pretty scary. When I listen to Tupac, I’m not afraid of sh*t. The legendary rappers from the '90s make you not afraid of anything. They take on all that sh*t from you. Same thing I get when I read like classic literature, authors like Henry Miller, who only wrote a few things but found so much purpose. Hemingway [was like,] "I’m not going to not drink for my health. F**k that, everything I do is for the moment." When you read certain things like that or [hear] certain music, it makes you think everything is fine ... The world is scary as sh*t. I’m afraid of everything, probably in a certain way. I have a big ego and a lot of pride—it’s hard dealing with everything. I have a huge family but no one has ever stayed together—a lot of craziness. When someone could just live through everything and be really strong, that’s what keeps us going."
21. He sent beats to Kendrick Lamar when he was 18.
"I met Kendrick and played him my album, and he really f**ked with it. One of his A&R coordinators works with me, too, and we went by the Interscope studios where [Top Dawg] was at. They have been trying to introduce us for a while and I told him, 'I’m a really big fan.' I’ve been knowing Kendrick since he was K. Dot from 2006 and I was sending beats to him in L.A. when I was like f**king 18 years-old out of high school. I have emails from him.'"
22. His style mantra:
"My style mantra is functionality. I want to feel like I could look good, but also do anything in what I’m wearing. I don’t want to be wearing a f**king poncho and can’t move my arms around or like some glasses and I can’t see. Function—that’s where style comes from."
23. His longest studio session lasted:
There is an up-and-coming producer/ artist, Jon Bellion, [who] wrote that song "Monster" for Eminem and Rihanna. I had a session with him that went from 12 noon to 11 [at night], like 23 straight hours on a song called “California.” It never came out. [Laughs] It was actually really good, it was supposed to be for my band.
24. His tips for indie artists to flourish:
"Stay in the studio. If you're a musician, your way to relate to the outside world is through your music. I think people need to go back as far as they can to focus on the quality of the music 'cause there are some independent artists who might have one song kind of pop off and they’ll be on 'cause music is rapid, shallow and short-lived. My advice is only do it if you really love it and if you have to do it. Like for me, I have no choice but to do music. It’s how I express myself, it’s how I deal with myself. If you could avoid it, you should avoid it 'cause it’s not easy, but you just have to really love it and believe in yourself.
25. Superpower he wished he had:
"I wish I had the superpower to have any superpower. I think flying is the coolest superpower. I don’t really want to see through stuff or be invisible."
